Find Your Way Back
by Nostalgia 101
Summary: Ravi offers his support when Liv struggles with the never-ending changes in her personality.


Ravi poured out two cups of tea from the pot, adding one teaspoon of sugar to his and a few spoonfuls of sriracha to the other. He gave Liv's shoulder a gentle nudge, waiting for her to lift her head from the bench where she'd burrowed down in embarrassment, before handing her the drink. He sat on the kitchen stool beside her, casting a contemplative gaze over her outfit. "I have to admit," he began, taking a small sip of tea, "I thought you'd be more of a Tinker Bell fan."

Letting out a deep sigh, Liv scratched at the layers of yellow tulle and fabric currently enveloping her. "Do you remember last week when I ate the brain of that guy who had the personality of a sweaty armpit and I thought, 'You know what? It can't get any worse than this'." She yanked a red rose out from where it was nestled in her cleavage and threw it on the ground. "I was wrong."

"Come on, Liv, it's not that bad," Ravi encouraged her with a smile. "Everyone needs a little Disney in their lives. I'm quite partial to Mary Poppins myself – Dick Van Dyke's woeful accent notwithstanding," he added with a muted shudder.

She focused on him with a derisive glare, setting down her cup. "So you're telling me that dressing up as Belle and coming over here to ask Major to be my Beast is 'not that bad'?" she said, mocking him with exaggerated air quotes.

"Well I don't know, it depends on if you're casting me as Gaston or Lumière in this little role-play of yours because I reject both." He tilted up his chin defiantly. "Mrs. Potts is the real badarse and I accept nothing less."

"That's so true, how does her song go again?" said Liv, tapping her fingers against her bottom lip pretending to mull it over. "Oh, that's right: tale as old as time, song as old as rhyme, _how about I punch you in the face_?"

Ravi quirked an eyebrow at her. "Is that from the Quentin Tarantino remake?" He quickly held up his hands in placation at her murderous look. "OK, OK, no more mocking I promise." He lowered his arms to his lap. "You'll be alright, Liv. It's not like Major was home to witness anything and you know your secrets are always safe with me."

Her frown morphed into a less angry, but more downtrodden expression as she let out another sigh. "I know," she replied, tracing a finger against the rim of her teacup. "I guess I'm just experiencing more brain drain than usual. I'm sure I'll be fine tomorrow," she added, forcing a smile.

"Of course you will," Ravi agreed, wishing that her smile actually met her eyes. "Listen, how about we raid my wardrobe and find you something less ball gown-ish to change into?"

"That would be nice," said Liv, flinching when she heard the sound of ceramic snapping in her hand. She looked down to see that she'd accidentally broken a shard out of the side of her teacup. "… Family reunion?" said Liv sheepishly.

Ravi stood up with a smile and gestured for her to follow him down the hall. "Come along, Chip."

* * *

Returning to the morgue after a trip to the upstairs vending machine, Ravi was surprised to find Liv lying on the couch in the break room staring at the ceiling. "What are you doing back here so soon?" he asked, emptying his lab coat pocket full of candy bars onto the table. "I thought you'd be out with our dear detective for at least another hour."

Liv shifted her shoulders into a halfhearted shrug. "What's the point?" she mumbled. "I haven't had a vision yet and I certainly have no business pretending to be a cop, so why should Clive even want me there?"

"Ahh, I forgot, we've gained a delightful dose of pessimism from these latest brains." He picked up a Snickers bar from his stash. "How about one of these? I hear they're marvelous for when you're not feeling yourself." He threw it in her direction. "Heads up!" The chocolate went sailing over the back of the couch as Liv remained in her prone position. "Or not," said Ravi wryly.

"Can't taste anything so why bother?" said Liv, as Ravi walked over to her.

"May I join you?" Earning another shrug in response, Ravi swallowed down a sigh and gently lifted up her legs so he could sit down, resting them back over his lap when he was settled. "Do you know what I think you should do?"

Liv flickered her gaze towards him. "Find a time machine and make sure my parents never met so that my useless, sorry ass was never born?"

" _Yikes_ ," Ravi muttered, before giving her knee a reassuring pat. "No, I think you should give Detective Babineaux a call and see what he's up to. A vision may strike when you least expect it."

"Like lightning," Liv mused.

"Exactly!"

"I _would_ be the type of unlucky person to get struck by lightning," she grumbled.

"That's not what I…"

"I mean I got turned into a zombie at a random boat party, so why not throw a little love tap from Thor into the mix too." She folded her arms across her chest. "Why did I even get out of bed today? It's Monday – Garfield warned us about Mondays. Ravi, a _fictional_ _cat_ is smarter than me." She felt him stand up and place her legs back on the cushions before he moved a couple of steps to awkwardly sit down on the ground next to her.

"Look at me, Liv," said Ravi kindly, patiently waiting for her to turn her head and meet his eyes. "You are without doubt, one hundred per cent more intelligent than a feline."

She blinked at him, trying to fight through the murky cloud surrounding her head. "I don't know," she mumbled. "Grumpy Cat has a pretty sweet marketing scheme going on."

A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of Ravi's mouth. "You are _ninety nine_ per cent more intelligent than a feline," he amended, chalking up a silent victory when a flicker of amusement graced her features. "I know this brain is not a shiny beacon of hope, but the good news is that the sooner we close this case the sooner you can be rid of it." He held out his hand. "And in the meantime I'll radiate enough sunshine and optimism for the both of us. Deal?"

Liv slowly unfolded her arms and shook Ravi's hand with her own. "Deal…" She fidgeted, trying unsuccessfully to clamp down her next thought. "You know if you literally radiated sunshine it would definitely kill you," she blurted out.

Dropping his head down to his chest, Ravi sighed in mock-defeat. "How about we at least try the Snickers thing? I mean it can't hurt."

* * *

The first thing Ravi heard upon waking was the incessant beeping of a monitor. The second was a shaky, " _Oh thank God_ ", accompanied by his hand being squeezed extremely tight. Blinking open his eyes, Ravi gazed around the stark white room until Liv's face came into focus.

"Hey there," she said in a wavering voice. "That was some nap you took," she joked in a feeble manner.

He swallowed roughly, feeling a twinge of pain in his left shoulder. "Hope I didn't drool too much," he said weakly, noticing how red-rimmed her eyes were. "Are you alright?"

Liv let out a humorless laugh, shaking her head. "The guy in the hospital bed is asking _me_ if _I'm_ alright?" She gave his hand another squeeze. "Let me direct that question back to you. How much do you remember?"

"Well, I can recall us chasing the Max Rager employee into the abandoned house," he said, wincing as he tried to turn his body slightly to the side. "Insert horror movie joke here that I'm too tired to think of." Ravi frowned as he attempted to piece together his thoughts. "Then somehow the place was on fire? I heard some shots and then… voila. Hospital slumber party."

Tears welled up in Liv's eyes. "Ravi I'm so sorry," she said, dashing at her cheeks with the back of her hand as the tears spilled over.

"Hey," he said in concern, running his thumb over the back of her hand entwined with his. "What's with the sadness? I'm OK. A little breezy in this hospital gown, but it's nothing I can't manage."

She shook her head, ducking her chin down. "You don't understand. It's _my_ fault you're in here."

"What do you mean?"

"The Max Rager guy, he _knew_ what brains I was on. He knew the victim suffered from pyrophobia," she said, her voice trembling with anger. "He lit that place up deliberately and I just… froze." She sniffed, brushing away another tear. "I could see you trapped in a corner with the bullet wound in your shoulder but the goddamn paranoia was suffocating me and I couldn't…" She paused, taking in a shaky breath. "Ravi you nearly _died_."

A heavy pang settled in his chest as he gently tugged on her hand. "Nearly being the operative word, Liv," he said softly. "You obviously managed to overcome your fear and get me out in time." He gave her an affectionate smile. "You're my hero."

"Don't say that."

"Why not? It's true."

"It's not," she replied, chewing on her bottom lip to stop it from quivering. "I'm not a hero, I'm not anything." She offered him a resigned smile. "Ever since I turned I've had so many different personalities invade my mind I don't even remember who the real me is anymore."

Ravi carefully brought Liv's hand to his lips and pressed a light kiss to the back of it. "We shall endeavor to find that out, Olivia Moore," he said, giving her a smile.

* * *

"Was the blindfold _really_ necessary?" Liv complained, hearing the crunch of gravel under the tires as Ravi brought the car to a stop.

"It's not a complete surprise experience without a blindfold," said Ravi, killing the engine and unbuckling his seatbelt. "Plus you just look really silly wearing it, so it's win-win for me."

Liv pointed warningly in the general direction of his voice. "Don't make me re-injure your arm, Chakrabarti."

"Threat duly noted and stored away for safekeeping," he said cheerfully. "Now wait there until I come around." He quickly exited the car and ran to the passenger side, opening the door to help Liv out. He took her arm and led her towards their destination.

Holding her arms out in front of her to feel her way, Liv suddenly snorted. "I just realized how Walking Dead this makes me look. I swear Ravi, if you're playing a prank on me it's…" She trailed off when they came to a stop and the blindfold was lifted from her eyes. An awed smile broke across her face as she took in the sight of a carousel all lit up in the darkness of the otherwise empty park.

"Still want to hold on to that threat of bodily harm?" he asked with a grin, enjoying the way her whole face was glowing.

Liv dragged her eyes away from the ride, turning to Ravi in astonishment. "It's way past opening hours, how did you even organize this?"

"Called in a favor with one of the detectives," Ravi explained, scratching behind his ear. "Their family owns it."

Unable to dampen her excitement, Liv moved closer to the carousel where an attendant was waiting near the control center. She closed her eyes as the familiar lilting music began to play from the speakers. "I used to love this place," she said happily. "Whenever med school was stressing me out or I needed a break from the world I'd come down here and just forget my worries for a while. Be a kid again." She opened her eyes and gave Ravi a quizzical look. "How did you know to bring me here?"

"Well, the cool answer would be magic, but that's definitely out of my skillset," he said, moving to stand next to her. "The real answer is that you mentioned this place, oh God, maybe…" he screwed up his nose in consideration. "When you first started working for me perhaps?" Ravi chuckled to himself at the memory. "You hadn't spoken much at the time, but when there was an item on the news about the carousel possibly being torn down you went on a ten-minute rant about it's legacy and how it'd be destroyed 'over your dead body'." He grinned at her. "Which of course holds a considerable amount of merit."

Liv stared at him in a mixture of wonderment and affection. "I can't believe you remembered that," she said, shaking her head and casting her mind back to the moment. "Everything else in my life had spiraled out of my control, so when I realized I had a chance to fix _something,_ even something as trivial as saving a carousel, I just grabbed it."

"It's not trivial, it's a part of your history," Ravi replied, nudging her with his elbow. "And tonight you're not a zombie. You're a girl, standing in front of a carousel, asking it to love her again."

She broke out into a laugh, her eyes shining bright with happy tears. "Did you just misquote Notting Hill to me?"

"Yep," he said proudly, letting out a noise of surprise when she stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck for a hug. Smiling, he wove his arms around her back, holding her close.

"Still radiating that optimism for both of us, huh?" she murmured, her breath puffing against his neck.

He grinned, pressing a kiss into her hair. "Always."

Stepping back, Liv slid her arms down his chest, gripping the collar of his shirt lightly, feeling Ravi's hands trace patterns up and down her back. She looked up at him, her shy smile matching his as they stood there under the moonlight.

A clearing of a throat startled them. "Hate to break up the moment," said the attendant, suddenly appearing at their side. "But I can only keep this place open for an hour."

"Right, ah, good point," Ravi stammered, self-consciously dropping his arms as Liv did the same. "Uh, well then. Shall we climb aboard?"

Regaining her composure, Liv smiled brightly at him and held out the crook of her arm. "Your carriage awaits, sir."

Grinning, Ravi linked his arm through hers. "Lead the way, milady."

"You know what this reminds me of?" said Liv, hiding a smirk when Ravi shook his head. "That scene in Mary Poppins, y'know," she switched into an awful cockney accent. "With me old mate Bert when they raced those 'orses down the frog and toad, guvnor!"

Ravi ignored her peal of laughter, tipping his head back in a groan of pure despair. "Where's a bloody love tap from Thor when you need one?"


End file.
